The corn beef factory.

December 3, 2010

The camping site being near the city centre meant allot of noise through the night. In a park nearby a group of young people sung a chanting song for a very long time, and at dawn there was the thudding hum of a container ship sailing by. I most have slept allot early on though, as yesterday evening, I was so tired I went to bed early and didn't hear anything till the early hours. I now sit at a picnic table, by my tent, writing my diary which I skipped last-night. Fray Bentos looks to be an interesting place so I won't be leaving today.

I had been told, at the info centre, that the interesting part of town is Barrio Anglo, which I expected, as Fray Bentos is synonymous with corn beef. And, Barrio Anglo where the old factory is located is just along the street from the camping site.

8pm. The sinking sun glows on the old windows. There luckily were nice big clouds.

I cycle by the old rusty iron sheds, see the redbrick chimney and the great concrete hulk of the main building facing the old wooden wharf which in it's day would have seen a constant flow of steam and sail ships come and go. Inside there is a museum which I wasn't at first going to visit but I thought, why not, it's free anyway.

On entering the museum on the factory floor where formally the canning took place, the first exhibit is a calf fetus preserved in a glass jar. It was the cause of mush laughter from a small group of Uruguayan pensioners after their guide mentioned something while I was out off earshot.

There then followed a collection of old black white photos and illustrations on the founding of the Anglo Meat Company by German scientist Justar Von Liebig whose formula for concentrating and preserving meat in a can, apparently it took 32kg of cow meat to make a kilo of corn beef, and was originally developed to improve the diet of armies in battle, indeed it was the stable in both WW1 and WW11. They went on to develop another phenomenally successful product of runny paste in a jar and granules in cubes called OXO. There products became widely consumed amongst the civilian population and exhibited were cans and labels of different eras. The name on the cans became FRAY BENTOS after the factory location.

The Uruguayan pensioners laugh again as their guide points at an old gun used by the matadores or slaughterers. There were more illustrations and antiquated photos of the chain from cattle on the pampas, arriving in the slaughter house, all the animal was used, the fat rendered and barreled, the bones crushed and bagged as organic fertilizer. And the final product depicted in a nineteen century photo of hessian sacks being pushed on wheelbarrows and barrels being rolled down the ramp to ships bound for Europe.

The workforce were immigrants from sixty countries, indeed the alphabetical list has two or three countries for each letter with Ireland and Italy under I. From wretched working conditions in the beginning, the workers lot improved over the years with the founding of a trade union and a football team. And Fray Bentos began a modern industrial centre with the introduction of electric street lighting in 1883, the first in Uruguay.

A row of workers houses now derelict, in Barrio Anglo.

I had lunch in the plaza after I was lucky in passing a take-away place, were I chose from a wide selection of dishes on offer. My choice, mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, omelet and some type of pork, not really sure what but all was delicious. After, I push my bike along in search of a cyber cafe, remember my laptop connection isn't working. I spent some time looking eventually asking a man sat on a park-bench. He points me to a place two blocks away and says if it's closes there's another a block up that street, turn right and then three blocks along. The first place as he predicted was shut for the afternoon, luckily though the other place was open as I was weary pushing my bike around in the afternoon heat.

Back at the camping-site a lady that looks after the place had turned up. She was putting barrow loads of gravel around the foot of picnic tables. A little later she lets the dogs lose for a run. They past me and went straight into the river to cool down.

I finish the day cycling back to the factory to take some photos which would not have been possible during the day. On the way back I call at the shop to buy beer. It is a tradition corner shop were business is done across the counter. There are weighing scales and an old fashion cash-register. Behind the shopkeeper on the wall are shelves were cans of fruit, peas and corn beef are stacked.

Today's ride: 18 km (11 miles)
Total: 6,863 km (4,262 miles)

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